skierrob2

Q: iPhone SE Bluetooth issues

I have a new iPhone SE and have so far paired it to a 2014 BMW 328i and a 2011 Kia Optima and a 2015 Kia Santa Fe. In all cases, I have terrible quality bluetooth call reception... the audio while on a phone call is extremely scratchy and distorted.

 

If I pair an iPhone 6S to each of these vehicles (same iOS version - 9.3.1), I do NOT experience these issues and calls are clear.

 

When I use the iPhone SE to make phone calls outside of Bluetooth, I have no issues and calls are clear.

 

This bluetooth issue on my iPhone SE does NOT impact Bluetooth music streaming. Only sounds scratchy / distorted with phone calls.

 

Apple, so far, is blaming the vehicle manufacturers despite there being multiple vehicle models and brands involved.

 

BMW and Kia state this must be an Apple problem.

 

Apple Genius bar is absolutely no help -- they state they can't report "software issues" to Apple and are only able to replace bad iPhones.

 

I'm at a complete loss as to how to get this to Apple's attention so they can fix the issue.

 

For now, I don't know what to do. All I know is that Bluetooth audio is very important to me in California since it is illegal to use your phone except in a hands free manner.

 

Anyone know how we can get this information to someone at Apple that can actually do something about it?

 

Robert

Posted on Apr 4, 2016 5:27 PM

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Q: iPhone SE Bluetooth issues

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  • by Allisonm67,

    Allisonm67 Allisonm67 May 17, 2016 12:51 AM in response to Tunnezza
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 17, 2016 12:51 AM in response to Tunnezza

    I Upgraded software last night and tried the phone on car's bluetooth today but the sound was worse than it has ever been! I was so disappointed after everyone had been reporting the upgrade had solved the problem. Even calls to mobile phones which has been sort of ok previously were now impossible to understand.

     

    Forgetting the pairing and reconnecting made no difference so in more hope than expectation I switched the phone off and then on again and Hey Presto the sound is now absolutely crystal clear!

  • by Tunnezza,

    Tunnezza Tunnezza May 17, 2016 2:32 AM in response to Allisonm67
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 17, 2016 2:32 AM in response to Allisonm67

    I have to say that, after the upgrade, I did a soft reset by pressing hold and power buttons until the Apple logo appeared; I don't know if that was necessary, but I did it.

  • by 81mrg81,

    81mrg81 81mrg81 May 17, 2016 6:00 AM in response to skierrob2
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 17, 2016 6:00 AM in response to skierrob2

    Yesterday I've finally received my new iphone SE  (I've been using 6s plus until now) and this morning, while driving to work (honda accord 2016) I've noticed that something is wrong. At least one time in every song, music would become choppy for a couple of seconds (a series of 0.2s pauses in a row).

     

    After getting to work, I've googled this thread and first I was happy to see that it is not just me (so apple would find a solution) but then I became sad after I've read that they supposedly had "fixed" the problem in latest release of iOS  (which I have installed right after I got the phone yesterday).

     

    So no, they did not fix it or perhaps they did fix one problem and broke something else in the process.

     

    Most people here say about low quality of sound (distorted, garbled)   and in my case, the quality is great but it is more like bandwidth problem where sometimes it doesn't keep up with the bit rate.

     

    6S plus was working perfectly fine with my car. Do I need to buy a new car again?   (Someone mentioned that apple said that it is "car's problem") 

  • by MotleyDiver,

    MotleyDiver MotleyDiver May 17, 2016 6:57 AM in response to 81mrg81
    Level 1 (8 points)
    iPhone
    May 17, 2016 6:57 AM in response to 81mrg81


    81mrg81, I recommend you take the SE back immediately and get a 6 or your 6S plus. This phone, SE, is junk. I am convinced there are folks on here posting in effort to just keep it alive. I personally think it is a hardware problem that the software patch masks, but still just a low quality phone. Apple isn't even shipping them and most stores do not have them and its WEEKS to get one. That tells a lot. Apple knows it's low quality and is just limping it along until the fall. The fewer you make available, the less damage control you have to do. Just Sayin.

     

    Keep it if you like, but you've been warned. Take it back if you can!!!!!!

  • by scottmk,

    scottmk scottmk May 17, 2016 7:26 AM in response to Tunnezza
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 17, 2016 7:26 AM in response to Tunnezza

    Tunnezza wrote:

     

    I have to say that, after the upgrade, I did a soft reset by pressing hold and power buttons until the Apple logo appeared; I don't know if that was necessary, but I did it.

    I did the same on all three SE's in our household.  I did not have to re-pair with my car, either.  First test call was clear.

  • by Cfloreno,

    Cfloreno Cfloreno May 17, 2016 7:26 AM in response to skierrob2
    Level 1 (8 points)
    May 17, 2016 7:26 AM in response to skierrob2

    I purchased the Apple SE phone a month ago then found out afterwards about the Bluetooth issue.. I have a new Jeep Renegade and could not use my phone for voice calls connected via Bluetooth..  all I heard was a bunch of garbled noise....  This morning, an OS update came down to my phone
    for v9.3.2 ..  I applied it to my phone and now the phone calls in my Renegade are crytal clear when connecting the phone via Bluetooth.    BUT.. I want to add that last Thursday, the Jeep dealer also download a huge software update for the audio system..  right after the Jeep update, I still had Bluetooth issues with the phone but not sure if the Jeep update and the Apple Update helped each other out..

  • by dcpmark,

    dcpmark dcpmark May 17, 2016 7:51 AM in response to 81mrg81
    Level 1 (28 points)
    May 17, 2016 7:51 AM in response to 81mrg81

    81mrg81 wrote:

     

    Yesterday I've finally received my new iphone SE  (I've been using 6s plus until now) and this morning, while driving to work (honda accord 2016) I've noticed that something is wrong. At least one time in every song, music would become choppy for a couple of seconds (a series of 0.2s pauses in a row).

     

    After getting to work, I've googled this thread and first I was happy to see that it is not just me (so apple would find a solution) but then I became sad after I've read that they supposedly had "fixed" the problem in latest release of iOS  (which I have installed right after I got the phone yesterday).

     

    So no, they did not fix it or perhaps they did fix one problem and broke something else in the process.

     

    Most people here say about low quality of sound (distorted, garbled)   and in my case, the quality is great but it is more like bandwidth problem where sometimes it doesn't keep up with the bit rate.

     

    6S plus was working perfectly fine with my car. Do I need to buy a new car again?   (Someone mentioned that apple said that it is "car's problem") 

     

    Your problem is unrelated to the distortion over the Handsfree Profile that was fixed in 9.3.2. In fact, those that had problems before the update with their carkits or headsets had reported that music streaming through the A2DP Profile was fine.

     

    I would try a couple of things before exchanging the SE for a new one. Try deleting the BT pairing with your car on BOTH sides, then restart by holding down the Power button and Home buttons at the same time until the Apple appears, then re-pair the phone. If that doesn't solve the streaming problem, try backing up the phone then setting it up as new before restoring the backup to the SE. If that doesn't work I would exchange the phone, and if somehow you still have problem I would return it.

     

    By the way, brand new iPhones can have performance stuttering while they are indexing, and usually settle down after a day or two. Is your music stored in iCloud, or locally?

  • by Rob.nl,

    Rob.nl Rob.nl May 17, 2016 8:39 AM in response to skierrob2
    Level 1 (9 points)
    iCloud
    May 17, 2016 8:39 AM in response to skierrob2

    The iOS update 9.3.2 resolved the issue for me.

  • by BBoiss,

    BBoiss BBoiss May 17, 2016 8:44 AM in response to dcpmark
    Level 4 (1,404 points)
    Apple Music
    May 17, 2016 8:44 AM in response to dcpmark

    Also, the phone may still be reloading content in the background as he just replaced this phone yesterday. His other phone had cache data that his present phone doesn't so there may be hiccups here and there for another day maybe.

     

    But yes, try the unpair and pair again bit.

  • by 81mrg81,

    81mrg81 81mrg81 May 17, 2016 8:56 AM in response to BBoiss
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 17, 2016 8:56 AM in response to BBoiss

    Thanks BBoiss and Dcpmark. I will definitely try that.


    MotleyDiver thanks for the warning but I already had (still have but I will try to sell it)  iphone 6s Plus which was a huge (literally) mistake in my case.

    My hands are standard size so I found it impossible to to use it in most situations when I need to use a phone like walking, driving a car, doing shopping, feeding a baby etc.

    I've checked 6s but ... it is still too big to use it comfortably with one hand but close.

     

    SE stays with me for now. If BT keeps acting like that (I use BT a lot) then I will be monitoring the market for other small smartphones. I am done with huge screens. It's just a (smart) phone and it should stay this way. Never ever again.

  • by Gijsteraar,

    Gijsteraar Gijsteraar May 17, 2016 9:37 AM in response to skierrob2
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 17, 2016 9:37 AM in response to skierrob2

    Went from 3 to 4, wich worked fine for me.

    yesterday I updated to the public release.

    Now I can't be reached in 4G (LTE) all day long.

    Swapped manually to 3G, no problem.

    Could be a provider problem, but I can see

    no problems on their site.

    Anyone?

  • by fatdms,

    fatdms fatdms May 17, 2016 9:44 AM in response to Allisonm67
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 17, 2016 9:44 AM in response to Allisonm67

    Sorry if this has been addressed previously, but the thread is obviously quite long. I was having no bluetooth issues at all prior to updating iOS this morning, and now it is basically unusable. Audio is completely unintelligible. Have tried toggling BT on and off. Has anyone else had this problem or does anyone have any troubleshooting advice? Obviously I wish I had never updated!

  • by dcpmark,

    dcpmark dcpmark May 17, 2016 9:46 AM in response to fatdms
    Level 1 (28 points)
    May 17, 2016 9:46 AM in response to fatdms

    fatdms wrote:

     

    Sorry if this has been addressed previously, but the thread is obviously quite long. I was having no bluetooth issues at all prior to updating iOS this morning, and now it is basically unusable. Audio is completely unintelligible. Have tried toggling BT on and off. Has anyone else had this problem or does anyone have any troubleshooting advice? Obviously I wish I had never updated!

     

    Try restarting your SE by holding down the Power button and the Home button at the same time until the Apple appears, then let go.

  • by Tunnezza,

    Tunnezza Tunnezza May 17, 2016 9:51 AM in response to MotleyDiver
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 17, 2016 9:51 AM in response to MotleyDiver

    MotleyDiver wrote:

     


    81mrg81, I recommend you take the SE back immediately and get a 6 or your 6S plus. This phone, SE, is junk. I am convinced there are folks on here posting in effort to just keep it alive. I personally think it is a hardware problem that the software patch masks, but still just a low quality phone. Apple isn't even shipping them and most stores do not have them and its WEEKS to get one. That tells a lot. Apple knows it's low quality and is just limping it along until the fall. The fewer you make available, the less damage control you have to do. Just Sayin.

     

    Keep it if you like, but you've been warned. Take it back if you can!!!!!!

     

    I previously owned a 6S and a 5S, and in my opinion my SE is great: I had just one issue, now solved. Great photos, great battery life, nothing to complain.

  • by MotleyDiver,

    MotleyDiver MotleyDiver May 17, 2016 9:54 AM in response to Tunnezza
    Level 1 (8 points)
    iPhone
    May 17, 2016 9:54 AM in response to Tunnezza

    Look at this....almost 24 hrs. later and people STILL having trouble with this. Even the update they pushed is "Buggy." Glad I returned mine and got the iphone 6 - The LAST decent iphone ever built.

     

    Take 'em back folks....life is too short for all this effort to make it work.

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